The Holidays 2014, Minnesota Style

This year has been amazing--so happy and so hard, so many changes and so many blessings. As the new year approaches, we like to talk about our "bests and worsts" for the year. Here's our short list for 2014.

Bests:

Baby Samuel

Disney World trip

So many fun visitors in NC

Our beach trip with our favorite NC friends

Living by the Driskills in MN

Baby Samuel

Hill and Hansen family reunions in Utah

Thanksgiving with family

Baby Samuel

Happy kids in school and activities

Worsts:

Packing up and leaving our NC life behind 

Dealing with our yucky first house in MN 

Moving twice in one summer

So, as you can see, our bests far outweigh our worsts this year. Hooray for 2014. We'll see what 2015 has in store!

We've had a great holiday season so far. I always love the weeks leading up to Christmas, with all the decorations and Christmas cards and fun outings and Christmas books and Christmas music and shopping and sugar cookies and parties and gifts and making time to focus on the Savior.

Here are some pics from our recent partying.

Christmas Eve with the Driskills: a yummy dinner, acting out the Nativity, reciting "The Living Christ," exchanging gifts... It was so fun to celebrate with family this year! We sure love this Driskill family.

 

Christmas Day at home. Samuel was really sick on Christmas, so we had a different sort of day than we'd anticipated. We had a good time playing with the kids and enjoying the magic of the day, but it was hard to be so worried about our feverish, sad, congested baby. We were all happy to see him looking and acting more like himself after a couple of days. 

I gave Eliza my American Girl doll, Kirsten, from when I was a little girl. I'm not sure who was more excited about the whole thing, Eliza or me. :)

The boys got a flag football set, so there has been some intense football going on in our basement this week. They've all had a lot of fun with their Nerf guns too. And of course, we've played LOTS of board games and card games and read fun books and watched lots of fun movies. (We even went to see the movie Big Hero 6--it was awesome, by the way!) It's the best to have so many days off of school and so many new toys to play with. :)

All dressed up for church on Sunday

Just yesterday we decided to sign the kids up for some quick ski lessons. We're so excited to be coming out to Utah to go skiing with the Hansen fam in February, and we want to be ready! So today was Kimball, Eliza, and Grant's first time on skis. They were awesome, despite the cold. Seriously, it was -4 degrees when we got to the hill! Samuel and I were happy to watch from the lodge. :)

Yes, that's a horse in his mouth. He loves that little Bullseye figure (from Toy Story), and he likes to crawl around with it in his mouth like this. Samuel is getting to be such a fast crawler that Grant has started calling him Bullet Bike. :) Hard to believe this little guy is almost 9 months old.

As you head into 2105, know that the Hansens in freezing Minnesota send our love and warmest wishes your way. :)

Fall in Minnesota

We are settling in to life here in Minnesota. It's beautiful and, yes, sometimes it's chilly. The autumn colors here are amazing. We are getting some good time in as a little family, despite Mark's crazy schedule. And we love our time when we get to play with the Driskills and the Childresses too! It's wonderful having family close by. Here are some highlights from our most recent adventures.

Two weekends ago we gathered to send Tyler off on his mission with a grand farewell. We played at French Park,

had a big dinner all together, played games, celebrated Ai's birthday,

and got to make lots of good memories with Tyler before he headed off to the MTC to prepare for his mission to Slovakia. I sure love this amazing young man. When he spoke in church he bore such a powerful and sincere testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I felt so lucky that Kimball and I were able to join him and his family when he was set apart as a missionary because the spirit there that night was incredible. Tyler will be a mighty missionary. I am so excited for him!

When Tyler was baptized 11 years ago, I flew up to Minnesota to be there. It seemed so right to be here again as he set off as a missionary!

This last weekend was MEA so the kids were out of school for a couple of days. We went to Interstate State Park with the Driskills to see the fall leaves and explore the potholes there that were made by melting glaciers long ago.

 We stopped by a crazy sculpture garden on the way home too.

 And yes, we are getting ready for Halloween around here...

 and having fun with our happy 6-month-old Baby Sam.

 Happy Fall!

10 Days Old

Baby Samuel is 10 days old today. So far he's been a good eater and a good Hansen sleeper. The kids have been adjusting well. Things have been going pretty smoothly around here, but something major happened today that may change everything: Nana went home. We are not sure how we're going to get along without her! From laundry and cooking to cleaning and grocery shopping, taking the kids on outings, and taking the baby during the middle of night, Nana has been superwoman. Thanks so much for all your help, Mom. We're so thankful you took 12 days out of your busy life and came to be with us. We love you, and we miss you already.

And here are some recent pics of Mr. Samuel...

Our little Duke man

I compared newborn pics of my kids today, and Samuel definitely looks the most like Kimball right now. But all my babies have looked very similar. It is so fun to watch Samuel's little face and have so many memories of the other kids flood my mind. I wonder who this little person will become. Newborns are wonderful.

I'm loving all his elephant clothes and blankets... :)

All snuggly in his Nana-made quilt

Baby Samuel

Our long-awaited baby is here safe and healthy, and we couldn't be happier. Here's the story of Samuel's arrival...

Stickers compliments of Eliza and Grant :)

Once I hit 38 weeks, I started having contractions on and off and just felt big and uncomfortable and rather miserable. I spent the entire day on Tuesday (April 1) cleaning the house in anticipation of Nana coming that night. Her flight came in at 10:30 and Mark went to pick her up. I was so tired that I went to sleep and didn't even see her when she got to our house. But by 1:45 a.m. I was awake with pretty bad contractions. Before long I realized that my water had broken (just a little) and then the contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart. I had never gotten around to packing a bag for the hospital, so I started throwing some things together. By 2:30 I decided I'd better get going to the hospital. It's a funny memory for me now to think that I woke up my mom (whom I hadn't seen in 6 months), said hi, talked to her for a few minutes, went down and woke up Mark, and then headed off to the hospital. My mom kept telling me to hurry. I was making her nervous. But I just felt so relieved that she was there and we could leave and know the kids were okay--it all just seemed so perfect.

I was dilated to a 4 when they checked me at the hospital. I told them I'd progress quickly, but no one seemed to be in a hurry until they checked me again a while later and I was at an 8. Then our nurse, Empress (one of those Southern women you just don't argue with), got everyone moving for us. My epidural was just right--not too much but enough to take the edge off. I was so glad that Dr. Wheeler from the high-risk clinic was the doctor who was there for the delivery. She was awesome. By about 6:30, baby and I were ready to go. I ended up pushing for about 20 minutes, and little Samuel was born at 6:58, just in time for the doctor and nurses to head home from the night shift. This little guy just has good timing.

Nurse Empress and Mark

ready-to-go-home Dr. Wheeler, excited Mark, tired Aimee, and minutes-old Sam

We did it. He's here!

Dr. Hansen examining Samuel...

Yes, Mark even gave him a little eye exam

Samuel weighed 7 lbs. They measured him at 18.5 inches, but Mark thinks they shorted him a little, so maybe we should go with 19 inches. He's a little guy, at any rate. He has the same dark, soft hair and big eyes and pouty lips that all my newborns have had. He's definitely from the same mold as his big brothers and sister.

When the nurse laid Samuel on my chest seconds after his delivery, my heart was so full. After years of waiting and hoping, I finally had another healthy baby. He was wide awake but quiet and peaceful as he lay there. He reached his hand up by his face and started sucking on his thumb. He was so cute and wonderful and perfect. That is a moment I will always remember.

We had talked about the name Samuel once we knew this baby was going to be a boy. Mark liked it. The kids really liked it. (Eliza even has a baby doll named Sammy Duke.) I have read the story of Hannah and Samuel in the Bible so many times over the past years and have really come to love it. I gained strength from Hannah's faith in asking the Lord to bless her with a baby when it seemed an impossible thing, and I love her example of how she fulfilled the promises she made to the Lord. Her Samuel, her gift from God, hears the voice of the Lord as a boy and serves Him his whole life. Once I thought of naming this baby Samuel, I couldn't think of any other names I liked at all. So Samuel it was. The name means asked of God; he is our answer to so many prayers. And for his middle name we decided to name him after his wonderful Hansen grandfather: Jeffrey. Welcome to our family, Samuel Jeffrey Hansen.

The kids were so excited to meet their baby brother. Grant is curious about him and wants to touch him and hold him but at short intervals. Eliza wants to take care of him but is a little unsure just yet what to do. With a little training, she'll be changing diapers for me in no time. :) And Kimball is the most infatuated of all. He wants to hold Samuel all the time and insists on having the longest turns with him. It's fun to see them all with their baby. Nana hardly gets a turn to hold Samuel during the day--she has to take her turns in the middle of the night. She has been such a big help.

We've had happy days at home since we left the hospital. I opted to come home from the hospital a night early simply so that I could get some sleep! After only getting 3 hours of sleep the night Sammy was born, I couldn't handle another night of being woken up every hour or so. And my soft bed and pillow were calling me. It's so good to be home. Samuel seems to not mind the noise at all. I guess he's been listening to it for months now. :)

Despite the sad face, he actually really liked his carseat coming home

The kids were more than a little bit excited to have us home

The only sad thing about leaving the hospital was having to say goodbye to quiet hours with just Mark and Baby Samuel.

Mark is loving his boy. He loves to hold newborns. I am in heaven holding and caring for little Sam. He'll look right into my eyes when I talk to him, and I can feel his wonderful spirit. We have felt gratitude and love for all our babies, but I think we have a deeper sense this time around of just what a miracle it is to have a healthy, perfect baby in your arms. Thank you to everyone who added your prayers to ours for this baby. We love you all for it.